Process and system for the manufacture of vegetable dough

ABSTRACT

A process and system is provided for the manufacture of vegetable dough using only water as an ingredient of the dough, and for a time interval ranging between 5 minutes and up to 10 minutes, wherein the vegetable is selected from vegetables and grains.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

Present invention refers to a process for the manufacture of vegetabledough, preferably grains, for example corn grains, using water as aningredient for the dough, singly, in a time lapse ranging between 5minutes up to 30 minutes.

BACKGROUND

Nixtamalization is the process through which the cooking of corn withwater and lime is undertaker, in order to obtain the nixtamal, whichafter having been ground, will give rise to the dough, which in turnwill be used for the manufacture of corn dough products in general.There are many proofs that this process was originated in Mesoamerica(specifically in the Mexican high planes). The word “nixtamal” isoriginally nahuatl nextli (“lime ashes”) and tamalli (“cooked corndough”); this concoction has many uses, some which have current originsand others which have a historical origin. The corn may be used freshlyor may be dried for later use.

The first step in nixtamalization consists in placing the corn doughgrains to cook in an alkaline solution at a temperature near the boilingpoint. After the cooking, the corn is left immersed in the broth for acertain amount of time. The cooking and soaking times for the corn varydepending on the type of corn, the local traditions and the types offoods to be prepared. It can be cooked for a time period of severalminutes up to one hour, and can be left soaking from several minutes upto around one day.

During the cooking and the soaking, a series of chemical changes takeplace in the corn grains, given the components of the cell membrane ofthe grains, among which amylase and amylopectin are included, which arehighly soluble in alkaline solutions, the grains are softened and theirpericarps (shells) become loosened. The grain is hydrated and absorbscalcium and potassium (depending on the compounds used) along the entireprocess. The starches are dissolved and become gelatinized, and some aredispersed in the liquid. Certain chemical products from the germ arefreed, which allow the cooked grain become easier to crush. Cookingproduces changes to the main protein in the corn, which causes theproteins and nutrients of the endosperm of the nucleus be moreassimilable to the human body.

After the cooking, the alkaline broth (known as nejayote), whichcontains the dissolved shells), the corn starch and other substances, isdecanted and disposed of. To know whether the process was successful,the corn grain must be easily peeled between the fingers upon scrubbing.The grains are completely washed in order to clean them from thenejayote remains, which have a disagreeable taste. The pericarp isdisposed of and only the grain germ is preserved.

Afterwards the grain is used by itself or is ground for obtaining corndough. This process has been modernized and currently the grinding takesplace mainly through the use of machines or industrial mills, however inrural areas the use of the “metate” persists, which is a manual stonemill.

Nixtamalization is undertaken by hand: by traditional means or in smallscale preparations, or mechanically; on a larger scale or in industrialproduction.

In the processes used in the state of the art, the grinding of thecooked grains is undertaken by means of at least one of friction andknocking, which affects the starch particles which are present in thecorn; similarly in light that it is necessary to soak the corn grain ina water with lime solution, water is produced as a wasted product.

Said process belonging to the state of the art have severaldisadvantages, among which should be highlighted the amount of time ittakes for the preparation of the dough, which lies between 12 and 14hours, the waste of water and other materials, the grain waste etc.

Through use of the process of present invention said existingdisadvantages in the state of the art are eliminated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the process for themanufacture of vegetable dough comprises the following steps:

Pulverizing the dehydrated raw vegetable using a micro cutter to obtainparticles (raw flour) with different granulometries; separate andclassify the particles (flour) according to their granulometries;undertake the mixing of classified particles (flour) and water to obtaina mixture; gelatinize the mixture by means of cutting and frictionforces in order to produce dough.

The type of raw dehydrated vegetable to be used can be selected frompotato, yucca, and grains such as bean, chickpeas, maize, beans,sorghum, wheat, millet and amaranth.

In a preferred embodiment the raw dehydrated corn grain is used.

It should be mentioned that different types of dehydrated corn can beused in instant invention.

In an alternative embodiment, the raw dehydrated vegetable, for exampleselected from among grains is made to pass through a magnetic trap,where the foreign ferrous bodies which could be transported alongsidethe grain could be retained; said retention attempts to avoid damage tothe micro cutter. As an example of said ferrous bodies, are nails,screws etc.

In an alternative embodiment, several features of the structure of thevegetable can be eliminated as a function of their usefulness to whatthe vegetable dough is destined for, for example, the final productwhich will be manufactured from said dough. As will be obvious to oneskilled in the art, the vegetable dough may have a wide variety of uses,among which for example, are the manufacturing of fried stuffs, bakedproducts, cooked products, tortillas, tostadas etc. could be mentioned.

Advantageously, the system and process of instant invention allow forthe manipulation of different parameters of the vegetable, such as theparticle size, the vegetable structure in order to obtain a vegetabledough which is able to meet the requirements of the final product.

The type of treatment which can be applied to the vegetable will be infunction of the type of vegetable and the requirements for the finalproduct:

In the particular case of corn, at least one of the pericarp, thepedicel and the germ (commonly referred to as sub product) are removedfrom the dehydrated raw corn grain; the removal of said sub product iscontrolled by the user, who determines the percentage of sub product tobe removed within a range of 1% to 100%.

The bean, for its part, may be soaked in water in a first step, toeliminate tastes and toxins and afterwards will be dehydrated.

In the potato, the peel is eliminated and then cut into cubes for itslater dehydration.

Optionally, these treatments can be eliminated.

In an alternative embodiment, specifically when dealing with grains, thedehydrated raw grain is precut, using cutting scissors, thus decreasingthe size of the raw grain, in such a way that the yield at the time ofundertaking the micro cut is increased.

In an alternative embodiment, the grain particles can be classified andstored according to their size.

In an alternative embodiment, the mixing is undertaken based on theweight of the components, in such a way that said components are weighedin an additional step.

In an alternative embodiment, specifically when dealing with grains,specifically when working with corn, the mixing is carried out by addinglime in an amount between 0.3 to 2.5 percent by total weight of thecomposition, in order to obtain nixtamalized corn dough.

In said alternative embodiment previously described, the cooking and thesoaking steps of the corn grain which are present in the known processesof the state of the art are eliminated, thus allowing for decrease inboth time and costs of the process. The use of vapor is also notrequired. Additionally, upon eliminating the soaking of the corn grainstep, the use of water is decreased to a significant degree andfurthermore, no effluents are generated, which entails importantadvantages over the known state of the art, as are the elimination ofwater discharge into the drainage, as well as the costs associated withthe processing and said discharge.

In an alternative embodiment, the gelatinizing is undertaken in at leastone gelatinization step, preferably from one to four steps, depending onthe required dough.

In an alternative embodiment, specifically when dealing with grains,said sub product is classified and pulverized using a micro cutter forgenerating particles, same which will be stored, which will be includedin the final mixture.

Similarly, a device which is specifically conceived for carrying outsaid method is also described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 shows an isometric view of the system of present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a frontal perspective view of the system of presentinvention.

FIG. 2 a shows a cut view of the degerminator machine of the system ofpresent invention.

FIG. 3 shows a frontal perspective view of the micro cutter of thesystem of present invention.

FIG. 4 shows a back perspective view of the micro cutter of the systemof present invention.

FIG. 5 shows a frontal perspective view of the gelatinizer of the systemof present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a back perspective view of the gelatinizer of the system ofpresent invention.

FIG. 7 shows a cross cut of the gelatinizer of the system of presentinvention, wherein a plurality of blades can be seen.

FIG. 8 shows a lateral view of the gelatinizer of the system of presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

With the end goal of delimiting the scope of the claimed invention, thefollowing definitions are provided:

The use of the term “approximately” provides a determined additionalrange. The term is defined in the following manner. The additional rangeprovided by the term is ±10%. By way of example, but not in a limitativemanner, if it states “approximately between 25° and 41°”, the exactrange lies between 22.5° and 45.1°, or yet between 27.5° and 45.1°, oryet between 22.5° and 36.9° or between 27.5° and 36.9°. Any of thepossibilities described above are covered through the use of the term“approximately”.

In a similar manner, the term “vegetable” should be interpreted as beingderived from plants or all elements related to them, in such a way thatif speaking of a “vegetable dough” it is to be understood that dough canbe maked from a leguminous (for instance garbanzo, broad bean, lentils),a fruit (for instance mango, banana), a tuber (for instance potatoes), aroot (for instance carrots), a grain (for instance corn, wheat), a seed(for instance beans, peas, soya), etc.

The manufacturing process for vegetable dough is carried out in a devicewhich is specially conceived for the process of present invention,references FIGS. 1 through 8 in an indistinct manner. For the endpurposes of illustrating the system and process of instant invention,corn grains will be used. Notwithstanding, as will become evident to aperson skilled in the art, the system and process of the invention canbe employed using any type of dehydrated raw vegetable.

The corn grain is pulverized by means of micro cutting to be shrunk to aparticle level size (flour) in different granulometries; depending onthe desired granulometry different micro cutters will be used withdifferent knife blade numbers, from 50 up to 120 knife blades to achievean adequate particle size for the final product, in such a way that saidparticles present a size between 2 mm up to 200 μm, to achieve anadequate size for the granulometry of the particle, it is necessary tofeed the corn grain flow to the micro cutting machine (10) by means of adosage system.

The dosage speed of the corn grain will depend on the variety of corn tobe used, given that each corn species presents different properties,such as size, dampness, hardness, amount of starch etc.

The dosage system is carried out with a variable speed worm, which isrequired in order to be able to adjust the feeding of the micro cuttingmachine, and also, it must be taken into account that many varieties ofcorn exist and that each one has different properties.

The corn knocks against the cutting borders of the knife blades whichare exposed on a head with great speed. This action results in theelimination of small particles until the decrease of the corn grain iscompleted. The particles are discharged through the spaces between theknife blades.

Depending on the number of knife blades set on the micro cutting machine(10), will then determine the size of the particles to be obtained, insuch a way that by increasing the number of knife blades, the size ofthe particle will be decreased, while decreasing the number of knifeblades will increase the size of the particle.

Given that the driver turns at high speeds, the product remains in themicro cutting machine (10) only for a fraction of a second, therebyavoiding that the corn grains be knocked and become overheated. Theparticles obtained present the greatest amount of viable starch giventhe use of the micro cutting, decreasing the corn grains in a softmanner to avoid damage to the starch, thus avoiding the use of hammermills.

To be able to increase the extraction speed of the particles of themicro cutting machine, a pressure differentiation system (20) is used,being able to use both negative pressure as well as positive pressure,thus avoiding that the particles remain for a longer period of time thannecessary in the inner part of the micro cutting machine (10), giventhat the risk exists that said particles become burnt given thetemperature increase in the knife blades caused by the friction with thecorn grains to be pulverized.

In an alternative embodiment, prior to the pre cutting step, a step forthe separation of the ferrous material is carried out, in such a waythat the corn grain passes through a magnetic trap, which traps theferrous materials in the corn grain, thus avoiding that said materialsbe introduced into the micro cutting machine, in such a manner that theknife blades of the micro cutting machine are maintained in optimalstate.

In an alternative embodiment, the vegetable, preferably grain and evenmore preferably dehydrated raw grain can have the at least one germ, thepedicel and the pericarp, which jointly are known as the sub product,removed in a controlled manner, thereby obtaining complete or incompleteraw corn, depending on whether one or more of the above parts have beenremoved.

The raw grain corn is fed to a degerminator machine (30) through ahopper (31), said degerminator machine (30) presents an entry gate (32)and an exit gate (33), through the entry gate the grain is fed by meansof a worm to a polishing chamber (35), once the polishing chamberbecomes full, the grain is propelled against a rotor and is brushedagainst some perforated meshes (34) of a screening drum (36), theretention of the grain within the polishing chamber is adjusted to theexit gate by moving two counterweights, causing the sub product tobecome detached. Said removed sub product is transported, classified andstored for its later use within the process or may be treated as waste.It should be mentioned that said polishing is carried out in a drymanner.

If it is the intention to use the sub product in the flour manufacturingprocess, said sub product will be transported to a vibratory sorter(40). In a similar manner, said sub product may be processed by a microcut or any other process.

In an alternative embodiment, said vegetable, preferably grain, evenmore preferably corn grain is subjected to a precut, in such a way thatthe size of the grain is decreased, in such a way that the micro cuttingprocess is eased and its efficiency increased.

Said pre cutting machine comprises a plurality of driver flaps whichpropel the corn grain at a high speed against the plurality of verticalknife blades, thereby obtaining the precut corn grain; the number ofknife blades of said precutting machine is much lower than the number ofknife blades used in the micro cutting machine, despite them presentingthe same functioning principle, the results are different.

Returning to the main embodiment, once the vegetable particles areobtained, these are transported for their separation, wherein they areclassified according to their granulometry; in this step, the smallestparticles may or may not be separated from the larger sized particles.

Said (flour) particles are transported to the vibratory sorter (40),where they are classified according to their granulometry; the vibratorysorter (40) is a screening device designed to separate the smallestparticles from the larger sized particles, and to separate the subproduct. The sorter (40) comprises at least one mesh set on a steelframe, the meshes used are from number 10 meshes up to number 100meshes; the number of meshes will depend on the number of separationswishing to be undertaken.

From the exits, the particles are stored in storage tanks (50), one pereach one of the particle granulometries (flour) and one for the subproduct.

Each tank has sensors for both high and low levels, the transport system(cyclone and fan), the fluidization system, vibration system and feedingvalves.

When the particles reach the low level sensor, the corn grain feedingsystem is started, when the particles reach the high level sensor, thefeeding gate for the corn grain into the micro cutter is closed.

Similarly, two systems are present which aid the particles beingtransported avoiding clogging, a first system which uses fluidizationinjecting air into the lower part of the tank and a second system whichuses the strategically placed vibrators.

The process will be undertaken in a gelatinizer (50) which comprises inits inner part an arrow (61) with blades (62), temperature sensors, amotor system (63) with a motor reducer, to move the arrow with theblades and a turning system (64). The blades (62) are designed toexercise mechanical work with a cutting and friction force, with flapswhich are directed and distributed for gelatinization, wherein the gradeof gelatinization will be in function of the final product.

Merely for the purposes of citing one example, a first step comprisesundertaking a mixing at a first speed, preferably low speed, between 20and 30 RPM, to achieve a homogenous mixing of the particles and thewater with the objective of obtaining a raw dough, the ratio ofparticles and water depends on the final product to be manufactured withthe dough, preferably the percentage of water varies from approximately35% to approximately 56%; while a second step comprises undertaking agelatinizing from the cut and friction force in said raw dough, giventhat the blades from the equipment turn at a second speed, preferably ahigh speed, up to 500 RPM, imprinting heat into the dough, causing itsgelatinization, both the time as well as the temperature are variablesto be controlled within said equipment, the above is based on the typeof dough seeking to be obtained, the temperature range is found betweenapproximately 35° C. and up to approximately 60° C.

In an alternative embodiment, the sub product is fed into saidgelatinizer, whether it is in particle forms or complete; if the subproduct must be fed in particle form, said sub product must be processedby means of using the micro cutting machine.

In an alternative embodiment, lime is added to said mixture to obtaincorn dough which is nixtamalized, the percentage of lime used in saidmixture varies from approximately 0.3 to approximately 2.5% by weight,which differs very much from the amount of lime used for theconventional nixtamalization processes.

In an alternative embodiment, said stored particles (flour) are weighedto achieve an adequate size combination, in an embodiment, the lime isweighed along with the selected particles, and thus, it consists with aweighing system, wherein the stored particles (flour) are weighed toachieve a combination according to requirements for the final product,which is added into the passage device or directly into the equipmentwhere the mixing and the gelatinization are carried out.

A mechanical device is used for raising and lowering the hopper, thesignal for lowering the hopper is determined by the temperature and/ortime of the dough, to raise it, it is necessary that the dough has beenunloaded. The type of device is chosen from the group of pistons,pulleys, bands etc.

It should be noted that said alternative embodiments may be carried outseparately or in combination with the main embodiment.

Alterations to the process described in present application, may beforeseen by those persons skilled in the art. However, it must beunderstood that present description is described with the preferredembodiments of the invention, which are merely for illustrative purposesand must not be understood as a limitation to the invention. Allembodiments which would be considered obvious within the spirit of theinvention, such as changes in shape, material and sizes of the featureswhich make up the invention, shall be considered as lying within thescope of the attached claims.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A process of a manufacturing system forconverting a raw vegetable into vegetable dough comprising: providing adry raw vegetable; micro cutting the dry raw vegetable for a fraction ofa second to obtain vegetable particles with different granulometries;separating and classifying the vegetable particles according to theirgranulometry to provide classified vegetable particles; adding water toselected classified vegetable particles to create a mixture; andsubjecting the mixture to friction forces to promote gelatinization andobtain a vegetable dough; whereby the micro cutting for only a fractionof a second reduces the risk of the dry raw vegetable being overheated.2. The manufacturing process of claim 1, wherein the vegetable particlesare flour.
 3. The manufacturing process of claim 1, wherein themicro-cutting step includes micro cutting the dry raw vegetable toobtain vegetable particles with different granulometries ranging in sizefrom 200 microns to 200 millimeters.
 4. The manufacturing process ofclaim 1, wherein the dry raw vegetable is selected from the groupconsisting of grain, corn grain, corn and whole corn kernels.
 5. Themanufacturing process of claim 4, further comprising separating at leastone sub product selected from the group consisting of the pericarp, thepedicel and the germ from the dry raw vegetable prior to the microcutting step.
 6. The manufacturing process of claim 5, wherein the stepof separating at least one sub product includes dry polishing the dryraw vegetable.
 7. The manufacturing process of claim 5, wherein themicro cutting step includes micro cutting the at least one sub product.8. The manufacturing process of claim 1, further comprising precuttingthe dry raw vegetable prior to the micro cutting step to reduce the sizeof the dry raw vegetable.
 9. The manufacturing process of claim 1,further comprising separating ferrous metals from the dry raw vegetableprior to the micro-cutting step.
 10. The manufacturing process of claim1, further comprising adding lime to the mixture in a 0.3% to 2.5% byweight ratio.
 11. The manufacturing process of claim 1, wherein thetotal time of the process ranges from 5 to 30 minutes.
 12. Amanufacturing system for converting a dry raw vegetable into vegetabledough comprising: a machine configured for micro cutting the dry rawvegetable for a fraction of a second to obtain vegetable particles withdifferent granulometries; a sorter for separating and classifying thevegetable particles according to their size to obtain classifiedvegetable particles; and a gelatinizer for exerting cutting forces on amixture of selected classified vegetable particles and water to obtain avegetable dough.
 13. The manufacturing system of claim 12, wherein thedry raw vegetable is selected from the group consisting of grain, corngrain, corn and whole corn kernels.
 14. The manufacturing system ofclaim 12, further comprising a magnetic trap prior to the machine formicro cutting for separating ferrous materials from the dry rawvegetable.
 15. The manufacturing system of claim 12, further comprisinga degerminating machine prior to the machine for micro cutting forseparating at least one sub product selected from the group consistingof the pericarp, the pedicel and the germ from the dry raw vegetable.16. The manufacturing system of claim 12, further comprising a pluralityof storage tanks for respectively storing classified vegetable particlesfrom the sorter according to their size.
 17. The manufacturing system ofclaim 12, further comprising a precutting machine prior to the machinefor micro cutting for reducing the size of the dry raw vegetable. 18.The manufacturing system of claim 12, further comprising a pressuredifferentiation system utilizing both negative and positive pressure forextracting the vegetable particles from the machine for micro cutting.19. The manufacturing system of claim 12, further comprising a weighingsystem prior to the gelatinizer for weighing the different sizes ofclassified vegetable particles in order to achieve an adequate sizecombination and water.
 20. A process of a manufacturing system forconverting a raw vegetable into vegetable dough comprising: providing adry raw vegetable; micro cutting the dry raw vegetable for a fraction ofa second to obtain vegetable particles; adding water to the vegetableparticles to create a mixture; and subjecting the mixture to frictionforces to promote gelatinization and obtain a vegetable dough; wherebythe micro cutting for only a fraction of a second reduces the risk ofthe dry raw vegetable being overheated.
 21. The manufacturing process ofclaim 20, wherein the micro-cutting step includes micro cutting the dryraw vegetable to obtain vegetable particles with differentgranulometries ranging in size from 200 microns to 200 millimeters,further comprising separating and classifying the vegetable particlesaccording to their granulometry.